I'm looking for a new record player. I basically want to play my old comedy albums...i want it to have as much "nostalgia value" as possible, and don't really want something too high tech.
I used to be a Linn main dealer (I left the hi-fi business for the comparative sanity of I.T. some years ago *grin*). In my experience, whenever somebody wants a record player, a certain type of hi-fi buff ALWAYS suggests an LP12....
What about ebay or craigslist.... or maybe local thrift store or yard sale? It seems like there would be a lot of older perfectly working players floating around.
Since there's no need to dispute the value and longevity of an LP12, I won't. The Rockport Sirius III might indeed be a bit too serious--and I doubt Andy would build one to play comedy records (then again, depending on the artist!).
More seriously, I think just a cheap Technics/Dual/whatever would be fine--off of Audiogon, Craigslist, etc. Or, if he'd like something that will sound really good, be relatively inexpensive, and be from a company that is likely to be around in ten years, the Rega P1 is very very good.